Following the pledge of Bharat Ratna to VD Sawarkar by the Maharashtra BJP, Congress made it clear that it is not opposed to Swarkar as an individual, but opposed to his Hindutva ideology. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh was speaking at a meeting  with intellectuals on Thursday. Sawarkar was an accused but acquitted in the case of the Mahatma Gandhi assassination.  The Congress prime minister, late Indira Gandhi had issued a postal stamp in Savarkar’s memory Singh said.

"The Congress does not need anybody's patriotism certificate, particularly the RSS, which did not participate in the struggle for freedom," he said, reacting to the BJP's criticism of the Congress's stance on Article 370. Pointing out that it voted in favour of the abrogation of Article 370, but opposed the high-handed way in which it was done.